Family Flame
by Doglover2002
Summary: It was all perfect. Just him and his dragon. But then it all changed, why did everything have to change? Will contain Nalu and other pairings I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters.
1. Chapter 1

It was all perfect. Just him and his dragon. But then it all changed, why did everything have to change?

"Igneel?" The young boy whispered, his voice barely audible. His eyes forever tormented by the bloodied dragon lying before him, unmoving. "Ig..neel?" he tried again, not wanting to believe it.

_I was only gone for an hour. What happened?_

His eyes widened as he got closer, the smell of blood filling his nostrils, and _magic._

_Someone else was here, but why is Igneel hurt._

The words struck him hard, like epiphany had slapped him across the face.

_Igneel is hurt. Igneel...is hurt._

His pace quickened considerably, and he found himself sprinting towards the ruby scaled dragon.

"Igneel!" he cried out frantically "Igneel! Igneel!"

_Igneel._

It felt as if the space between them was increasing, no matter how fast he ran it felt like he would never close the distance.

"Igneel!"

_He can't be. Theres just no way._

The tears fell freely from his charcoal eyes, accompanied by sobs and desperate cries.

_I'm almost there!_

"Ig-"

Bam. Silence.

"God he's a noisy one isn't he?"

The boy felt a heavy weight press onto his back, squishing him against the soft grass, despite his enhanced eyesight he couldn't see who it was, daylight was gone now.

"Leave the boy be, we've got what we came for."

_Two voices, they're deep, probably males, are they trying to take Igneel away from me?"_

"Let me have my fun will'ya" He kicked the childs head roughly. "Whats up with this kid he's got pink hair."

"I said leave him be." the other voice said sternly.

Another kick. "Shut up already you're not in charge."

A loud bang was heard, followed by an ear piercing scream. The pink haired boy remained still, listeining to the conversation unfold.

"You fucking shot me!" the man screamed, clutching his leg. "The fuck is wrong with you? you bastard!"

"Only a coward would dare to abuse an innocent and defencless child." The cool voice replied rather calmly, gun still in hand. "Kumari, Bandow, take Hector back to the guild, I'll transport the dragon there when you're ready."

"But sir!" a higher pitched voiced replied "Aren't you going to kill the boy, he's a witness afterall, this project is top secret."

The man lowered his gun and turned his back. "Sorry Kumari, I don't kill children." As he began walking back to the dragons body the boy felt something snap within him, Igneel was the only thing he had left, it was the only thing he'd ever had, Igneel was his family, and he was going to defend it, to the death.

Anger clouded the boys mind, there was no reasoning now, only hatred. Flames danced around his body and engulfed him, his eyes gleamed red. Kumari's eyes widened.

_But he's a child, how can he hold so much power._

"Eric." Kumari warned, her voice quivering "Sir he's not human."

Eric turned to face the demon on fire. He gave the child a look, a frown, like he pitied him. "Go." he ordered, wether it was directed to Kumari or not she and Bandow grabbed Hector and vanished into smoke.

Eric and the pink haired boy were now face to face. "What do you want?" he asked, his voice showing no sign of fear.

_What do I want?_

His jaw clenched and his fist tightened, a low growl rumbled from his chest. "I want..." he hesitated, not sure what the exact words were. "I want... my family back!" And with those words he charged at the man who had hurt his dragon, Eric had to admit, as scared as he was he couldn't help but admire those flames, beautiful yet terrifying, fierce yet somehow gentle, giving off a warm colour.

_Oh Natsu, you've grown so much._

He grabbed the boys fist with his one hand and flipped him over, forcing him once again onto the ground and extinguishing the flames. "Don't make this harder for me than it already is Natsu."

The child winced, if a human could cause him this much pain then Igneel could have killed him long ago by accident. "Wait a minute how do you-" he was silenced by a cold pale hand over his face. "Sorry about this." said Eric, a hint of emotion in his voice "We'll meet again sometime." A white light flashed from the hand, and in that instant, _Natsu_ forgot _everything._

**One week later**

_**.**__**Last vision: White light**_

_**.**__**Woke up in forest**_

_**.**__**Name: Natsu**_

_**.**__**Father: Igneel (dragon)**_

Makarov tapped the pencil against his note pad, humming to himself.

_This isn't much to go on at all._

A man with blonde hair leaned over his shoulder, and a slight chuckled was heard.

"Whats so funny Laxus?"

"Old man I hope you never decide to become a journilist, your notes suck, took you half an hour just to write down _that."_

Ignoring the comment from his grandson Makarov studied his eyes on the boy in front of them, he wore a white scarf that resembled a dragons scales, his hair was pink though the boy insisted it was salmon, and apart from his tattered shorts he was practically naked.

_Then again its a possibility he's been living in the forest, and I doubt theres a clothing shop in the middle of a place like that._

"You said your name was Natsu yes?" the short man questioned.

Natsu nodded his head quickly and made a hum of approval.

"Well Natsu how old are you?"

Natsu turned his head slightly to the side "O-Old?"

"OLD." Laxus pronounced the words slowly, like he was speaking to a deaf person or grandparent. " . ?"

No hope. Natsu only turned his head to the other side "Old." the unfamiliar word felt weird when he spoke it. "Old" he repeated again.

"Oh god gramps ya'think his amnesia is that bad."

"He could just have a low range of vocabulary."

"Voca...vocabru..voca-"

"Don't even try it kid, you'll hurt yourself from thinking." Laxus leaned back against the wall "I'd estimate he's somewhere between seven and ten."

Makarov hummed once more and stroked his chin clearly in deep thought "I believe your correct Laxus, take him downstairs I think its important he socializes with the younger members of the guild."

Laxus sighed, he really didn't have time to be dealing with children right now. He grabbed Natsu by his scarf and picked him up on his way to the exit.

"Hey let me go!"

"Its your lucky day kid, you get to make friends."

Natsu stopped throwing punches at the tall blonde man "Friends?" a loud thump was heard as he was dumped on the guild floor.

"Hey what was that for!" Natsu had just about enough of this guy, acting all high and mightier than him, the great Natsu!

_I could take him on any day._

"Hey banana head!"

Silence.

"I'm talking to you!"

No reply.

"Stop walking away from me!" He ran up to Laxus's retreating figure and yanked on his coat only to be flung away by his hand. Natsu crashed into a nearby table which was now split in two. He rubbed his head as he sat up on the remainders of the table, his face smothered with _strawberry cake._

_Damn that hurt!_

Natsu wiped the cream off his face and licked his fingers.

A booming voice broke through the room. "Who do you think you are!" At a table in the corner of the guild Laxus chocked on his drink and placed the glass down.

_The kid's not gonna live to see tomorrow._

Natsu looked up to meet the eyes of a warrior, blazing with anger, she had long scarlet hair held back in a plait and her body was incased in armour.

_He'll start running in three..._

Natsu stared at the red head with a look of boredom on his face.

_two..._

She glared at him, ready to kill.

_One._

Natsu frowned, stood up and puffed his chest out "Who do you think _you _are?"

Laxus sighed heavily and continued to drink.

_Should have run when he had the chance._

Natsu's fiery glare quickly faltered and died when he found himself face to face with something metal and pointy.

_A sword?_

Epiphany slapped him again. "How the hell did you get a sword!" but the scarlet haired girl merely smirked "My name is Erza, I'm an equip mage"

"I'm Natsu and I'm a dra-"

"And now I shall wipe you from the face of the earth!"

_...What?_

Natsu did what any sane human who valued their lives would do. He ran. The sounds of heroic screaming and running sounded throughout the guild.

_Maybe he will fit in here. _

"Laxus?" came a sweet shy voice. Laxus looked down to see a girl with short white hair wearing a pink dress. "What do you want Lissana?" She pointed to the scene of Natsu being strangled to death by Erza "Who is he?" Laxus followed her gaze "_That_ Lissana would be Natsu, and he's the newest member of our guild."

"Oh ok. Hey Natsu!" Even though he was too busy fighting for his life he still managed to hear the first words of kindness he'd recieved from someone other than Igneel.

"Welcome to Fairy Tail!"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Thank you WaterDragonMaverick for reviewing I was going to continue this to see where it went but you have encouraged me to write more so thank you.**

The sun's heat beat down on the village of Shadowmaple, since it was located in Luria the villagers had become accoustumed to high temperatures and continued their daily lives with out complaint.

Alice Carfala was sixteen years old when she first began milking a cow. She squeezed and watched in fascination as the milk came pouring into the bucket in little portions. The auburn haired girl could'nt help but smile.

Papa will surely be pleased.

"Good girl Daisy." She whispered as she patted the spotted animals neck. Alice carried the bucket with care, (taking small steps to minimize the chance of her tripping and spilling the milk, she always considered herself unlucky) and made her way out into the barn yard where her grandmother was seen scattering bread across the ground, chickens and ducks swarming at her feet.

"Oi Alice" said the elderly woman "Y'e father was looking for you, he wanted to show you... oh what was it?... oh right yes he wanted to show yer something." Alice shook her head and tried her best to supress a giggle.

Grandma can be so forgetfull sometimes.

"I was looking for him myself, do you know where he could be?"

Silence.

"Grandma?"

"Ya what dear?"

"Do you know where my father is?" She pronounced more clearly.

Alice's grandma pointed a wrinkly finger behind her. "Down at the fields I suppose, the boys always been a hard worker, sun must be roasting his skin by now."

Alice nodded and switched the bucket to her other hand "thank you grandma."

"Oh spare me would ya? I know yer kids only be polite cause your told to, back in my day when I was in my prime youth-" she continued to babble on about random things, wether what she said was entertaining or not her grand daughter wouldn't have listened either way.

Alice put her bucket down and hopped over the horizontal wooden fence, she bent back over the fence and grasped the bucket by its handle, hoisting it over. She placed a hand on her head feeling how the heat had made her hair so warm. The girl looked up at the clear blue sky.

Beautiful.

And it all went downhill from there.

Magnolia was a misurable place, it was raining. Again. Unlike the rest of society (which had probably taken refuge in their homes or guilds) a certain salmon haired boy rested in a cave located a good few miles from the city.

Natsu sighed as he leaned his head back against the hard, cold rock. He stared out of the mouth of the cave.

This forest is dead.

The average human wouldn't understand, the trees stood tall and proud against the harsh beating of the wind and rain, the green grass lushious and all the same size.

And why did this bother Natsu? He already knew the answer to that.

Because this is nothing like mine and Igneels forest.

Home (as Natsu called it) was the exact opposite of this place, there were winged fish, bears, Vulcans. The grass was a variety of different colours,shades and lenghts. He would usually play hide and seek with Igneel in the tall grass and snooze in the shorter sections.

Igneel.

Everything reminded him of Igneel. The small fire he'd managed to create was nothing compared to the fierce collosal flames his dragon could produce with a breath from his lungs. Natsu would be wrong to deny that he was slightly jelous, but he admired Igneel as well, he was the one who took him in and taught him magic to begin with. And Natsu vowed that one day he would become stronger than Igneel, so he could fight alongside him, as an equal.

Turns out it was all a dream, another one of Natsu's "fantasies", because Igneel was gone now, and Natsu didn't know if he was ever coming back.

Where the hell are you Igneel?

A loud scream was heard, interupting Natsu from his thoughts. He was positioned quite deep in the cave, there was no reason to go outside, maybe he had misheard something?

Wrong.

The scream sounded again, followed by another deeper voice. As Natsu listened he was able to identify the voices in general terms.

One female and a male.

"Go away! go away! go away!" the female voice yelled, her words broken by sobs.

The man protested "Wait! I'm only trying to help, children shouldn't be here!"

"Help! Its coming! Go away!"

"Whats comi-"

A low growl rumbled, followed by a snarl and one last scream before silence.

Natsu's body tensed, he could hear and feel his heart pounding inside his chest.

Am I scared? No. I'm Natsu the dragon slayer, I'm never scared.

The dragon slayer stealthed to the end of the cave, Natsu poked his head out and looked to his right. He immidiently regretted it.

White scales.

Was all he could see, the back of the beast was facing him, its wings spread out as it sat on top of its prey and devoured it, the scent of blood and magic mingling and travelling to Natsu's nose. He recocgnized that smell from somewhere, and he didn't like it.

Oh god its eating him... Is it eating him?

It didn't look like it, the beast appeared to be lapping up something rather than eating. Though they were mostly white some individual scales had a slight tinge of colour to it, giving the scales a crystal effect.

Is it a dragon?

It's to small to be a dragon, its no where near as big as Igneel.

A wyvern?

Nope. Wyverns are less muscly, but this thing looks just like a dragon, but its not, it can't be.

"Hey!"

The beast turned to face Natsu, blood staining its claws and dripping off its small dagger-like teeth, it turned its head to the side in a questioning manner and beared its teeth, as if it were smiling at Natsu.

He glanced to his left to see that the girl he heard screaming earlier was now hiding behind a nearby tree, the man however had not been so lucky. The mangled body had a blood oozing gash starting from his shoulder and going down across his torso, his face ruined, scarred, bloodied, no longer human looking.

Natsu tried to ignore the sickening scent he smelt. His fists clenched as fire engulfed his hands. "Stop hurting people you bastard" he spat. The dragon looking beast growled, lowering its head. But Natsu wasn't going to let it attack first.

"Fire dragon's roar!"

The flames flew from Natsu's mouth, charging fiercly towards the reptile, the beast shielded itself with its scaly wings, absorbing the fire, one of the pure white scales turned to a very feint shade of red.

He sucked in some air and then let more flames fire out of his mouth "Fire dragon roar!" The scaly beast stood up on its hind legs, opened its mouth and sucked in Natsu's fire. All the scales shimmered bright red as the beast drew in a breath.

This time it was the other way round, flames fired at Natsu. He smirked.

Thanks for the food.

The fire mage's cheeks hollowed as he mimicked the earlier action of the creature.

The little girl clutched her teddy tighter to her chest, sobbing uncontrollaby yet trying her best to be quite.

I tried to warn him.

The man outstretched his hand "Hey, where are your parents, its not safe to be out here alone."

"Run!" She cried "Get away from me!"

"Come back I'm trying to help!"

I tried to warn him and now he's dead, because of me he's dead, and I'll die to. Its only a matter of time before it finds me.

She could hear the creature grunt in pleasure as it lapped up more blood from the man.

Maybe I should just surrender, it's only killing people because of me, yeah thats it.

She slowly stood up from her crouching position.

I'll put an end to all of this, maybe it will kill me quicker, if I struggle it will only be more painful.

"Hey, stop hurting people!"

She froze.

"Fire dragon's roar!"

Silence.

Maybe I won't have to.

She poked her head out from behind the tree, disbelief present in her eyes as she watched the endless cycle of Natsu shooting flames to the beast, and the beast absorbing the fire and shooting back. Neither opponents being granted the upper hand.

This is just... ridiculous.

Natsu panted, exhausted from using so much magic power, he drew in one last breath "Fire dragon's ro-"

"Open, gate of the golden bull!"

A blinding blue light seperated the fire mage from his opponent, he brought his hands up to his face in an attempt to shield his eyes. The light moved, shifting and changing until it eveuntually formed the silhouette of-

A cow?

The light vanished, and Natsu couldn't believe his eyes. There, standing on two legs right before him, was a cow. A wave of emotions hit Natsu, confusion, happiness and finally, anger. As far as he knew cows didn't just randomly appear out of blue light, they didn't stand on two legs, wear speedos, or carry a giant black axe with red markings.

On the other hand.

I can roast this guy, beat the crap out of that imposter dragon, and save the cow for dinner.

He grinned.

Perfect...Wait a minute.

The spotted animal swung his axe at the creature, barely giving it any time to dodge.

This guy's trying to steal my fight!

The cow swung again, this time hitting the creature hard in the shoulder, the beast roared in agony and backed away hissing, yet too scared to attack.

The weapon was raised once again, followed by a loud "moooo!". As the axe came crashing down the beast spread its wings and flew up, directing a final screech of hatred at its attackers before gliding off into the distance.

"Get back here you coward!" Natsu growled at the retreating figure, he was thinking of chasing it, but his ears twitched at the annoying ring of a cowbell.

"Moo, victory to the bull!" the muscular "bull" declared, flexing his muscles. Natsu spun round and pointed an accusing finger at the spotted beast.

"Stupid cow!" he yelled "I could have killed it, and you got in the way!" he pounced, but the cow vanished, and Natsu found himself lying on top of some girl.

She gulped.

He doesn't even have a top on.

"umm.." she tried to move but her hands were pinned down by the salmon haired boy on top of her.

Natsu frowned "You're not a cow."

She pouted. "Obviously I'm not a cow, I'm a girl."

His frown deepened "A girl?"

"Yes a girl, your a boy and I'm a girl."

His eyes narrowed as they scanned her blonde hair. She scrunched up her face as Natsu leaned in and sniffed her, she felt his warm breath on her nose. Her heart thumped loudly, and she struggled to get away, but Natsu's grip on her wrists only tightened.

Her eyes shot open as something warm and wet brushed up her cheek, she blushed deeply and felt her face heat up.

"Y-You l-licked me." She stuttered "W-why did you li-"

"You taste salty" Natsu stated "Cows don't taste salty, so you're not a cow."

Now it was her turn to frown "umm thanks?"

He raised an eyebrow at her "For what?"

"For- oh nevermind." _Seriously how stupid can this guy be. _"Would you mind getting off me?"

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"Because I still haven't figured out if you're the cow." he said leaning in again, their noses nearly touching, a serious expression present on his face. She pouted and puffed her cheeks out.

"But I thought you already figured that out, _and _I already said I'm a girl!"

"Giiiirl" Natsu drawled out, unfamiliar with the word or its meaning. "What is a giiirl?"

The girl sighed.

How am I supposed to explain this, its like he never went to school?

"A girl is... well... the opposite of what you are, I'm a girl, you're a boy and the.. "cow" as you call him was also a boy."

Natsu reinforced his grip on the girls wrists, making her wince. "So you _know _that cow, but you're not the _actual _cow?"

"No! Have you even heard of a celestial spirit?"

His face showed that of utter confusion. "Cele...celest-"

She spat in his eye, and he immidiantly got off her. "Ugh gross, what the hell was that for!"

"You're calling me gross? she regained her composure and lifted her chin up, point an accusing finger at the boy "You were the one who licked my cheek!"

He pouted, and the girl couldn't help but think he looked a bit cute like that. "I was only tasting you."

"Which is even worse, you should be ashamed of yourself for treating a lady like that."

Natsu scoffed and poked her chest "You're not a lady you just said you were a girl"

She blushed and crossed her arms over her chest "Wether I'm a lady or a girl its rude to touch someone there."

"Why? you can touch mine if you want, so we're even" he grinned, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

However this only frustrated her more "You don't understand theres a big difference an-"

"No there's not" he quickly grabbed her hand and placed it where his heart was. The two stood there in comfortable yet awkward silence, until Natsu winced a bit.

The girl began retracting her hand, only to be stopped by Natsu.

"Its nothing" he reasured her with a warm smile "Your just really cold thats all."

"Oh. Well you're really warm"

Natsu rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, a proud grin present on his face Well I'm Natsu the dragon slayer, I was raised by a fire dragon so of course I'm warm."

Her eyes widened with amusement "Really! you were raised by a dragon"

He nodded.

"Well I don't believe you"

"Well I don't believe you have a pet cow"

"He's a celestial spirit and his name is Taurus, he's one of the twelve golden zodiac keys and he's a bull." She stated

Natsu sighed in defeat, what this girl lacked in strength she made up for in brains, he honestly didn't understand much of what she said other than the fact that the cow wasn't a cow and it had a name.

"Wait you haven't told me your name."

The blonde girl's face softened and she smiled lightly, bowing as she introduced herself.

"Its Lucy, Lucy Heartfillia."

Natsu flashed his devilish grin, making his fangs clear for Lucy to see. "Well Luuucy" he grabbed her by the waist and hoisted her over his shoulder "Looks like you owe me a favour"

"What are you doing!" she cried "Let me down!"

"Your cow got in the way of my fight and messed things up, _and _I saved you from ending up like _him." _he nodded his head to the bloodied corpse on the floor.

Speaking of him I should probably take him with us.

With his free hand he grabbed the corpse by the foot and dragged it along, making his way into the forest. "So" he continued "It's only fair you come with me"

"No." Lucy argued "No it's not fair, where are we even going?"

Natsu stopped.

Where am I going?

"Fairy Tail! wait no."

"No?"

"Yes no"

"Hey Natsu, Welcome to Fairy Tail!"

Do I really hate that place?

Most of the guild had accepted Natsu, but the children his age, didn't seem to like him at all, apart from Lissana. Alot of them either picked fights with him, or just ignored him completly and talked about him behind his back, but its not like he couldn't hear, he was a dragon slayer afterall.

Though the guild had invited him to stay he refused, he didn't want to forget about Igneel so quickly, to be loyal to the first new family that showed up, perhaps maybe if he waited in the cave, or in the forest, Igneel would come, and take him home.

Lucy gave up fighting against Natsu. It was kind of pointless. Instead she rested her head on his back.

At least I'm safe now.

Back in Magnolia, the Fairy Tail guild was having some trouble, well.. one wizard in particular.

"Laxus!" called Makarov, his voice fuming with anger and he didn't even know why.

"Coming, coming calm down old man." He made his way to the floor of the guild, but his smirk was soon wiped off his face when he saw the magic council troops lined up.

What are they doing here?

A soldier stepped forward from the line and opened a small scroll which he began reading off of. "Are you sir Laxus dreyar"

"Umm yeah" Laxus replied with a confused frown on his face "Can I help you?"

"Laxus by the order of the magic council you are here by under arrest, come with us willingly or we will take you by force."

"Whoa wait a minute, on what charge?"

"Murder sir"

Makarov shook his head displeasingly, tears threatining to fall "Oh Laxus, what have you done?"


	3. Chapter 3

******On the previous chapter of Fairy Flame:**

**"Laxus by the order of the magic council you are here by under arrest, come with us willingly or we will take you by force."**

**"Whoa wait a minute, on what charge?"**

**"Murder sir"**

**Makarov shook his head displeasingly, tears threatening to fall "Oh Laxus, what have you done?"**

"Natsu." Said Lucy

No reply.

"N-Natsu" She said more loudly this time.

A small grunt was his answer

"I don't think... I mean its not a good idea for you to bring that with us"

"Bring what with us?"

"_That!" _She cried.

_How can this not bother him?_

Natsu looked back at the body of the man he was dragging across the floor behind them. A trail of blood stained the grass where they had been walking, flies were crawling in and out of the open gashes of the corpse, and Natsu had to admit he was slightly disgusted with himself for not stepping in sooner.

_I could have stopped this._

"Why is it a bad idea Luigi?" Natsu asked.

"My name is _Lucy_, and what if people think that it was _us_, I don't want..." Natsu heard a sniffling sound, which soon turned into sobbing and wailing, he felt two small fists pounding on his back. "I don't want to be arrested!"

"For the last time I haven't done anything!"

Laxus only got more frustrated at the calmness of the troops, the one bearing the scroll repeated the message he'd given him only moments ago.

"Sir Dreyar we will not hesitate to bring you by force, please come with us to be judged by the magic council"

"No!" yelled Laxus.

_These weaklings are pissing me off._

"I'm not gonna be judged, because I haven't done anyth-"

"Laxus!"

His protests were silenced by Makarov's stern voice. The blonde turned to his grandfather, head of the guild, he'd never seen Makarov look so-

_Upset._

Tears swelled up in the old mans eyes, he was always so joyful, those eyes use to hold happiness and love for him, he remembered how creases would appear around them everytime he smiled. It hurt Laxus to see him like this, because even though he'd never admit it, Makarov was his family, and he _loved _him.

But those eyes, they didn't hold love anymore, or happiness, just sadness, despair, and _disappointment._

"Gramps.." Laxus said softly "I haven't killed anybody I swea-"

"_Out!_" ordered Makarov, his voice then lowering to a harsh whisper as he pointed to the guild doors "Just.. get out Laxus. I can't... I can't have a killer in Fairy Tail."

His eyes widened in disbelief, and he shook his head, as if it were all a bad dream.

"Gramps I.. You're actually believing them?"

_My own grandfather thinks I'm a murderer._

"You're believing them!" he repeated, his voice rising with anger "But... but.." Laxus looked all around, some of the guild members wore a look of pity on their faces, others glared at him with hatred, and some were just too ashamed to even look him in the eye.

He took several threatening steps forward, pointing an accusing finger at the whole guild. "Don't. Pity. Me" he warned slowly, trying ever so hard to keep his voice steady. Laxus was many things, be they good or bad, but he was not a weak quivering coward, and he wouldn't become one anytime soon.

"I'll prove you all wrong." he declared "I'm innocent and I'll prove it"

"How?" one of the guild members challenged, sipping some wine. "Face it Laxus, you always thought the guild was weak, what if that murder was just the first? In fact I wouldn't be surprised if that was just a warm up before attacking Fairy Tail!"

A few other members nodded in agreement.

"You better shut your trap or people _will _start dying!"

"Take him away." One of the troops ordered, yet his voice sounded lazy. Laxus was surrounded by knights wearing armour, all pointing spears at him,he punched one in the face and back kicked another behind him.

"For the last time I'm not coming wi-"

A sharp blade was forced into his leg.

"Pipe down dragon slayer we have the authority here."

_God dammit!_

Laxus clasped to the floor, gripping the limb tightly in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding, several other knights rugby tackled him to the floor, pinning him down.

Makarov looked at the scene unfolding before his eyes.

"I can't watch this" he muttered to no in particular as he turned away and began walking.

"Sir"

He looked up to meet the serious gaze of Erza "Sir Laxus is a Fairy Tail wizard, I don't think he would-"

"Erza." Makarov silenced her "I need some time to think." she stepped out of his path reluctantly, allowing the old man to climb the stairs to the second floor.

The scarlet haired girl sighed, looking towards Lissana who was in tears, clearly the girl hadn't witnessed much violence before, other than the friendly fights that tended to happen in the guild. Upon looking at Lissana she realized.

_Where was Mirajane?_

"Would you shut up already!"

Natsu cringed as the wailing sound only increased.

"I don't wanna be with you anymore!" Lucy cried

He groaned in frustration "I never gave you a choice."

"You keep getting us lost!"

"We're not lost!" Natsu protested "we're just..."

The pink haired boy spun round on the spot, ignoring Lucy's screams. His nose twitched, the smell of rain and blood was stronger than the scent he was trying to follow. Natsu didn't have much to go on either, the only scents he could remember were Laxus's and Erza's. He shivered.

_That monster._

Since he wasn't to keen on the idea of meeting Erza another time, he decided to follow Laxus's trail instead. However with the blonde girl yelling in his ear he found it hard to identify the scent he had associated with Fairy Tail.

Natsu sniffed the air again before turning in a different direction and walking, he stopped near a tree, his nose twitching.

_I've been here before._

His suspicions were confirmed when his eyes saw the hole in the tree, out of the whole forest he'd only seen one tree with a hole in it, and when he realized that this was that tree, he realized that Lucy was right, and then he knew.

"We're lost."

The blonde mage was seated on the cold floor outside the guild doors, somewhat surprised that there was only one knight guarding him.

_Maybe the magic council's losing its touch._

The armored person bent down and ripped a piece of Laxus's clothing off, proceeding to tie the wound on his leg. It was then that Laxus noticed something was off.

"You're a sneaky one aren't ya?" he said with a smirk.

The rune knight scowled, securing a pair of handcuffs around Laxus's wrists before pointing a spear at him, signalling for him to stand up and walk.

_Nope, they still got it._

"You know.." the blonde mage began "Last time I checked women weren't allowed to be rune knights."

He winced as the knight prodded his shoulder a bit too hard with the weapon.

"Watch where you put that thing you saw what that bastard did to my leg."

"Are you trying to blow my cover!" the female voice hissed.

Laxus smirked "I knew you had a thing for me, _Mira._"

"As if!" came the harsh reply,but the voice soon returned to a whisper "Look you and I both know you're innocent, I'm not going to bail you out but I have a plan."

The blonde mage snorted.

"You're not taking me seriously are you Laxus?"

"Well.." Laxus replied "It's kinda hard to take you seriously when I'm hearing a female voice come from a mans body."

She sighed in frustration "So what? I haven't mastered my transformation magic yet, its enough to fool the magic council's rune knights right?"

"Right" he scoffed.

Mirajane sighed. _Why am I even helping this guy?_

The two Fairy Tail mages halted at the sight of a fairly big black van. The rear door opened and gently hit the ground, forming a ramp.

"Care to fill me in on that plan now?" Laxus said in a hushed tone. Mirajane stood on her tip toes to reach the blonde's ear, she whispered a few words and he nodded before a look of confusion crossed his face.

"You call that a plan?"

"Its the best I've got" she argued "besides at least I'm not sitting on my ass like the rest of the guild."

He smirked as he watched her retreating figure... or his retreating figure? He wasn't really sure how to put it, but Laxus was glad that there was at least one person who didn't think the worst of him.

"Get moving dragon slayer or I'll put you in there myself!"

As much as he wanted to turn around and bite the stupid knight he had to follow Mirajane's plan, he was in enough trouble already, the more he denied the magic council the worse his day seemed to get. The blonde mage clenched his jaw and stepped inside the vehicle, slumping against the wall. A knight grabbed the ramp and pushed it up, obstructing the mage's last view of the guild, before everything turned black.

_Stupid guild. I'll prove those bastards wrong._

Despite his keen eyesight Laxus could barely see his surroundings, the inside of the van was dark, very dark.

_I'm not alone._

Something, though Laxus couldn't quite put a finger on it, was moving in the corner of the van.

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness he could make out what it was, a hunched figure tracing patterns on the floor with a pale hand, wherever its hand moved white curvy lines would appear.

_What type of magic is that? Forget it, I'm probably just seeing things._

"It's not magic." came a clear, calm voice. Laxus squinted, staring hard, the mysterious being extended an arm to the blonde mage, in his hand was something small and white.

_Chalk?_

"Would you like some?"

Laxus grunted "Now why would I need such a childish thing like chalk?" he spat.

The voice replied in a disbelieving tone, "To draw circles of course."

_Circles? Why circles?_

"To think."

Laxus didn't reply after that, and an awkward silence filled the secluded space. He couldn't see much of the strange individual other than its hand and outline.

_Chalk? Why would someone need chalk just to draw circles so they can think?_

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud snap. Suddenly a small ball of light was floating in the top corner of the van, it drifted down to where the figure sat, hovering next to it and illuminating the area.

Laxus was captivated, his jaw dropped slightly as he watched the ball of light floating in place, but his attention soon shifted to the being in the corner. For a fact it was a man, with smooth pale skin and white hair, his eyes were narrowed and held a cold piercing stare, unblinking. A black headband covered his forehead and he wore a black mask that hid his face from the eyes downward.

_No wonder I barely saw him, with that black cloak he blends right into the wall._

Laxus studied the mans face closer, the mask strangely resembled the cloth that his guildmate (Mystogan) wore, but it was a different colour so he pushed that thought aside.

"Who are you?" the blonde mage asked.

"Who do you think I am?"

Laxus sighed, he hated people like this, always answering questions with questions.

"Cut the crap and talk straight" he demanded "I wanna know who you are."

The man was unfazed by the mage's sudden outburst, he put down the piece of white chalk he was holding and outstretched his arm so Laxus could shake his hand.

"My apologies" he said, his voice showing no emotion. "I go buy a few names, but my most common is Eric."

Since his hands were still bound Laxus could only sit there and stare dumbly at the thin pale hand.

"Oh." though it was unseen behind the mask Laxus could tell that Eric was smiling "A little tied up are we?"

"Shut up." Laxus grunted before resting his head against the wall and closing his eyes, however he still had a few questions that needed answering and the more he neglected his curiosity the more tempted he was to ask.

He opened his eyes to see that Eric had picked up his chalk and continued with drawing circles.

Laxus cleared his throat "What _is _that?" he questioned, nodding his head towards the orb of light that floated about forgotten. It reminded him of flames, the light was orange and red with yellow at the centre.

Eric glanced up from his work "Oh you mean that?" he replied, fixing his gaze on the fiery light he had summoned, he turned back to his _work _and continued drawing "Its nothing little dragon slayer, nothing at all, just your imagination." and with that the light disappeared, leaving Laxus to wonder whether it had been there or not.

_Yeah, this guy is definitely not normal._

_Strawberry cake, probably the best thing invented._

Erza split the large slice with her fork, she was just about to place the delicious treat in her mouth when three heavy knocks were heard coming from the guild doors. At first she didn't move, surely they would just open the doors and come in like everybody else had. However she heard three more knocks, followed by two short quick ones.

_Looks like someone's getting impatient._

"You can come in!" she called, getting frustrated at the fact she couldn't enjoy her cake in peace and quiet.

Erza listened. Silence.

_Good._

The scarlet haired girl picked up her untouched snack, but was once again interrupted by shouting and the sounds of an argument.

"See Luigi, I told ya we could just come in."

"For the last time its _Lucy!_and I was always taught to knock before entering otherwise its rude."

"Yeah well screw that and lets go!"

"Knock one more time!"

"Fine!"

One final loud knock was all it took for Erza to snap. Slamming her cake down she walked briskly to the guild doors and flung them open.

_Oh. Its him._

"Greetings,Natsu." she smiled "I was _just _about to enjoy some strawberry cake but was disturbed by..._someone_." her eyes wandered from the petrified pink haired boy to the girl he had slung over his shoulder.

"Put her down." she commanded, her voice suddenly turning harsh.

Natsu gulped and obliged, dropping Lucy immediately.

_How? I was following that blonde guys scent for sure, how did I end up meeting her again?_

He had almost died on their first encounter, and Natsu wanted to enjoy living just a little bit longer.

_There's still so many things I want to do._

The fire mage had spent his last hour of life wandering in circles around the forest, and it was all for nothing. Or was it?

He grabbed Lucy's wrist firmly and pulled her off the ground, onto her feet. "Guess I was wrong." he lied, laughing slightly "I must've followed the wrong scent, this is the completely wrong guild."

"But Natsu isn't that the fairy tail ma-"

"No,wrong guild!" he turned around and ran for it, only to find Erza choking him from behind.

"You should stay, its cold outside."

"No thank you!" Natsu managed to rasp out

Erza was in the process of dragging the boy back through the guild doors when she saw it, _the body._All anger left her as her eyes scanned the bloodied corpse only to resurface moments later.

"Did you do this!" she yelled, shaking the poor boy rather violently "Answer my question unholy demon!"

"Er- erza ...i-it wasn't"

"It wasn't Natsu." stated Lucy, the furious warrior turned her attention to the blonde haired girl, awaiting evidence.

Lucy drew in a deep breath.

_Natsu seems strong, if this girl can make him this scared just by looking at him then I don't want to even know what she's capable of._

"I was there when the man died, he was killed by a _monster _and it was going to kill me to but Natsu saved me, well kinda-"

"What do you mean kinda? I totally beat that guy"

Erza shot Natsu a glare, "Silence." It seemed to do the trick since the boy whimpered and shut his mouth before he could worsen his situation.

"As I was saying" Lucy continued, trying to keep her voice steady and stop herself from running away like Natsu had done moments earlier. "The fight between them wasn't getting anywhere so I summoned one of my spirits to scare the monster off before Natsu ran out of magic power."

Erza loosened her grip on Natsu slightly, and the boy began sucking in air like it would all be gone tomorrow. "I see." said Erza, her eyes narrowing as she thought things through "Though that does make sense we should bring this to the master and see what he thinks about it."

Lucy nodded and let out a sigh of relief, smiling. "Good we'd be more than happy to obli-"

Bang!

The blonde girl found herself being crushed against Erza's armored chest as the older girl gave her a tight hug with one arm.

_She's so strong!_

"Your name is Lucy correct?"

She nodded, since she was being suffocated she could barely speak.

"Well Lucy since you were so honest you are now one of my favourite people and from today onwards you shall be my friend!"

Lucy wasn't sure whether she was supposed to be smiling and skipping or screaming and running away, but since Erza seemed like a better friend than Natsu she willingly let herself be pulled to the guild, then again there was no escaping the girl's iron grip so really she didn't have a choice.

"And as for you!" Erza declared, grabbing Natsu (who was attempting to crawl to safety) by the scarf "You shall face your punishment for manhandling such a kindhearted girl and will therefore stay at Fairy Tail until you make it up to her!" she began dragging the squirming Natsu to the doors, he could hear Lucy giggling and hated the idea of listening to a girl.

However he hadn't forgotten that Lucy still owed _him _a favour, if he must suffer for her then she would have to suffer for him as well, he flashed a grin at no one in particular.

"Erza she has to make it up to _me _to!"

"No I don't I was helping you Natsu!"

"You ruined my fight so you owe me!"

"Do not!"

"Do to!"

"Do not!"

"Yes you d-"

Thump!

Natsu rubbed his head, he could already feel a lump forming and tears built up in his eyes.

"Why'd you hit me..." he whined, beginning to cry.

_Oh great._

"You will both make up for eachother!" Erza yelled, when she wasn't looking Lucy stuck her tongue out at Natsu, infuriating the crying boy "Do that again girly and I'll burn you!"

"You deserved it Natsu."

"No I didn't stupid!"

"You're stupid!"

"Well you're stupider!"

"That's not even a word!"

Erza sighed.

_They argue like an old married couple._

******A/N Hello well that was my longest chapter so far,I had to rewrite the scene where Laxus gets arrested so many times because I just couldn't get his character down, I wasn't quite sure how he'd react to being accused of murder so it would be greatly appreciated if anybody can tell me whether they think he's OCC or not.**

******I have a lot of homework to do and the only reason I was able to post these three chapters was because I had time off school so when I start school again I'll only be able to update about once a week.**

******.Eric is an OC from my novel I'm currently writing though I had to give him magic powers and stuff so he could fit in with the Fairy Tail world. Though the story so far might seem confusing I have it all planned out and I promise you it may get slightly more confusing but it will all fall into place eventually.**


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